“I thought it was an earthquake”: the shock in Milan after the derailment of a tram

Stupor this Friday afternoon in Milan. A tram traveling at high speed collided with a building after derailing. According to Italian media, the accident left at least two dead and around forty injured.

“I heard a huge explosion,” Anna, a 27-year-old young woman who was in her office nearby at the time of the accident on Vittorio Veneto Street, in the Porta Venezia district, told AFP. “I saw that part of the tram had hit a store,” added the young woman.

“There was a man stuck under the tram, his arm was stuck,” another witness told the agency. “There were a lot of injured people inside the tram, I saw an old man completely covered in blood,” he added.

“We all capsized”

“I thought it was an earthquake. I was seated and ended up on the floor with the other travelers. It was terrible,” a tram passenger told the Italian news agency Ansa, who said he had just “hit his knee”. “A man next to me was losing blood from his head,” he added. “In 70 years, as a Milanese, I have never seen an incident of this type,” says another passenger whose woman who was traveling on this line 9 tram was hospitalized.

“We heard something coming from below, then the tram derailed and we all capsized,” Anna told Rai. The Milanese explains that she was standing near the driver when she was crushed by other passengers who fell. “The tram turned, accelerated and crashed into a building,” explains Cristina, who was also on the train.

Prosecutor Elisa Calanducci opened an investigation into involuntary manslaughter and assault and battery. If the circumstances of the tragedy remain to be determined, the first hypotheses point towards the driver’s discomfort. According to several sources cited by the Italian media, he told colleagues that he had felt unwell. According to two tram drivers interviewed by Rai, the tram did not stop at the previous stop, which could corroborate this hypothesis.

“I send my most sincere condolences following the serious accident that occurred in Milan,” reacted the President of the Italian Council Giorgia Meloni. “My personal condolences, as well as those of the entire government, go to the families of the victims,” she added in a message posted on X.